Index – Sport – You can’t go abroad without goals, the Hungarian national team is playing for promotion at the World Cup

The Canadian specialist has so far led the team in a high-stakes tournament: in February, at the Olympic qualifier in Tüskecsarnok, they initially failed to advance, but due to the exclusion of the Belarusians, the team can still continue with the five-ring qualification in Bratislava at the end of the summer.

According to MacAdam, you cannot go to the tournament without all kinds of goals and motivation, and he is confident that his players will have the opportunity to gain experience at the highest possible level in the next season.

Two and a half months ago, the Japanese national team defeated the Hungarians, who were still in the elite last year, and will now be the first opponent in Bolzano. At the same time, it is a positive sign that the Hungarians have won the last six World Cup matches, including the historic promotion in Sapporo in 2008.

The next opponent will be an Asian national team that plays in an unusual style to European eyes, South Korea, which is achieving more and more serious results, on Tuesday. The all-time record shows a marked Hungarian superiority, in addition to 15 victories, there are only five defeats and one draw in the statistics. The last time the two sides met in a stakes match was two years ago, in Ljubljana, when Hungary won 5-1, but the Asian opponent missed a lot of time due to the coronavirus epidemic.

The third opponent in Italy will be the Romanian national team with many Szekler players, which looks stronger than in recent years due to naturalization. Two years ago, the Hungarians won 4-2 in the Slovenian capital, having triumphed in the last five head-to-head matches.

The last two rivals, the host Italians and last year’s top-ranked Slovenians, are also in the tournament hoping for promotion. The Italians are going through serious development, as they can be at the Winter Olympics as a director in 2026, and they don’t want to disappoint, while the Slovenians usually stick to the “elevation”, i.e. they are interested once in the elite and once in the division I/A .

The Hungarian and Italian national teams played a warm-up match in Merano on Tuesday, and the result was 6-5 in favor of the MacAdam team, even though they were leading 6-2. Thus, in the all-time record, this became the 18th Hungarian success in addition to 23 defeats and seven draws.

The Slovenians will be missing two-time Stanley Cup-winning star Anze Kopitar due to the NHL playoffs, but they are still considered contenders for the tournament. The Hungarians have always lost in the 11 World Cup matches so far, scoring only 13 goals, but conceding 56. Overall, the rival is much better: the Hungarians won seven out of forty meetings and the Slovenians won 31, there were also two draws.

The Hungarian framework has undergone significant changes in the recent period. Bence Bálizs and Dominik Horváth were the first and second goalkeepers at last year’s elite WC in Tampere, but now Ádám Vay also had a chance to be in the team, but after a great regular season in Poprad, he was injured at the beginning of the playoffs. Miklós Rajna is awaiting surgery, and Zoltán Hetényi is focusing on his university studies.

Two regular defenders, Bence Szirányi and Tamás Pozsgai, canceled the national team, Roland Kiss was injured during the preparation last Friday, but the naturalized Henrik Nilsson is now eligible, he was not a World Cup player last year due to a concussion. Zsombor Garát did not make the playoffs after an NHL training camp with Worcester Railers, who are interested in the American third division, so he can be in Bolzano. Besides him, Bence Stipsicz, Zétény Hadobás, Nándor Fejes and Bence Szabó remained from the 2023 World Cup team.

Among the forwards, four experienced players, István Bartalis, Dániel Kóger, Gergő Nagy and Bálint Magosi, will remain away from the national team, and Erdély Csanád from Esbjerg is just about to start from the Danish final. Apart from him, Vilmos Galló, János Hári, Kristóf Németh, Kristóf Papp, Balázs Sebők, István Sofron and István Terbócs were members of the Tampere delegation, the other five attackers were not.

The top two from Bolzano will be promoted and will be able to play in the elite to be held next year in Stockholm and in Herning, Denmark, while the last one will be relegated to division I/B.